Going on last year’s total number (271) of points allocated to Castleisland in the National Tidy Towns Competition it appears that the 2014 points tally is up by three to 274.
You’ll need more that a cursory glance to ascertain where exactly these three extra points came from. Or, more precisely, how they were earned.
We can account for them by taking a closer look in the altered, Wildlife Habitats and Natural Amenities. That total stood at 27 for the past couple of years and it has jumped to 28 this year.
The additional two points appear to have come from what used to be: Roads, Streets and Back Areas. That total stood at 30 out of 50 for the past two years. This year, under its new category of: Residential Streets and Housing Areas it has gained 32 from the 50 possible in that category.
The goalposts and the categories have shifted completely from other years. The 2014 adjudicator’s report is based on a total of 450 possible marks and Castleisland has been allocated 274 from that.
In 2013 the allocated 271 came from a total of 400. In 2012 the town got 267 from the same total of 400.
Gone this year is the General Impression category. This always appeared to be at the discretion of the adjudicator if an area made a favourable impression on her / him.
There was an extra ten points possible and Castleisland did rather well in the last couple of years by scoring seven on both those reports.
A completely new category this year is the Community Involvement and Planning and Castleisland scored a very high 44 here.
This category, presumably, aims to reward community involvement and to encourage an element of planning to harness the goodwill of community groups in the area.
You can read the just published 2014 report in full by clicking on the link below.
You will, however, have to use your imagination on some of the names and areas – just like the adjudicator did with Galwey Auctioneers and ‘The old Red Structure on the corner heading for Limerick.’
http://www.tidytowns.ie/u_reports/2014/2014%20County%20Kerry%20Castleisland%20328.pdf
